This Day in Failure: February 26

2020:“Because of all we’ve done, the risk to the American people remains very low. … When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero. That’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” —U.S. president Donald Trump, seeking to downplay the threat of COVID-19

One month later the United States surpasses China as the country with the most COVID-19 cases in the world.

1993: A truck bomb explodes in a parking garage underneath the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The blast kills six and injures more than a thousand others. The bombers had hoped to topple one of the towers into the other, a disaster that might have killed tens of thousands of people.

1932: Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Regierungsrat (government councillor) in the Office of State Culture and Measurement in Braunschweig, and also as a state representative in Berlin. By being nominated as a civil servant Hitler acquires German citizenship, thereby opening the door to a run for president.